PREMA Racing claimed 8th place in a hectic Feature Race in the FIA Formula 2 Belgian Grand Prix event at Spa-Francorchamps today.
After the FIA Formula 3 Championship Feature Race was not completed due to weather, conditions improved enough for F2 to run with the start being given under safety car conditions. Gabriele Minì started from the 8th spot on the grid and made quick gains.
Tyre wear and management quickly came into the picture and Minì continued to show great pace, before stopping early for a new set of wets. However, an issue slowed down the pit stop and caused him to drop back. The Italian eventually fought back to P8, securing a points finish. With the last few laps being neutralized, he was prevented from making more ground but still had a very solid run.
Sebastian Montoya had a tough run. The Colombian-American started from P15 and found himself buried in the pack without many chances for recovery. He was among the first to take the tyres, which boosted his pace although he also faced a slow pit stop. Unfortunately, he was later involved in a spin at Radillon, and while he managed a great save, the car could not be restarted.
With the car needing to be retrieved and another car getting stopped on track during the safety-car situation, the race never resumed.
#9 SEBASTIAN MONTOYA
"Overall, it was a difficult weekend. Let's check and analyze everything and go on to the next. There was a lot of learning this weekend, and we had a strong race previously, so we had some lessons to take and move on. We just need to make sure we have everything a bit more together for the future. Onto Hungary, it will be a lot hotter!"
#10 GABRIELE MINÌ
"It was quite a strong performance pace-wise. We made up two or three positions before the stop. Then we made an early stop, and it was a good call, but we lost some time there with an issue. I made several overtakes again, and then we got the safety car. We had a great pace advantage, and we could have finished in the top five with those six laps. That's racing. We need to understand what happened at the pit stop, but I'm still satisfied with the weekend because we showed strong pace both on dry and wet, especially when the degradation started hitting. Quite proud of this, we keep pushing for Hungary."